Linux Multimedia Studio (LMMS) is an open source sequencer application for composing and creating music all within one environment. LMMS can be compared to the commercial equivelent FL Studio, or Fruity Loops as it used to be known.

LMMS has many fun and useful features. As well as having a beat and bass editor a song editor for creating melodies and many sample sounds. LMMS makes it possible to create your own sounds by using the built in synthesizer plugins. In effect LMMS allows you to create a full song from beginning to end.

If you have a midi keyboard you can plug this in to your computer and record directly. Alternatively you can use the built in piano roll where you can use your computer keyboard to compose the notes. Or you can also lay down notes individually. Each of these notes can also be tweaked individually, ie to increase or decrease volume or add effects.

LMMS is capable of supporting up to 64 simultaneous effects which can be mixed in with the effects mixer. Effects can be from the included LADSPA plugins or any VST plugins that have been added. Although VST plugins work most of the time, on Linux they are certainly not guaranteed. There is a list of VST plugins that are known to work listed in the online documentation with links on where to get them.

The built in software synthesizers gives you total freedom to create any type of instrument or tweak an existing sound. It is possible to create drums, bass guitars, electric guitars, strings, classic synthesizer strings, organs, piano, etc.

Just to name a couple of synthesizsers; LMMS includes triple oscillator (3xosc), ZynSubAddFx (which can create all sorts of interesting sounds), LB302 for creating nice bass sounds and the VST plugin option.